Madam C.J. Walker Read by Poorna Jagannathan
Once upon a time, there was an inventor and entrepreneur named Madam C.J. Walker. She was the child of slaves, the first in her family to be born free, thanks to the Emancipation Proclamation. As a child, she had to work in the cotton fields to help support her family. Later, as a teenaged orphan, she became a washerwoman, backbreaking work considered one of the worst and most difficult jobs a woman could have.
But she dreamed of more -- for herself and her daughter. When, due to an illness, her hair began to fall out, she created a hair care regimen specifically for African-American women…
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